Liz, as well as her widowed partner, were teachers, so Liz could be fired if their relationship were publicly known. This episode was re-aired the day before California voted on the Briggs Initiative, which would have required openly gay or lesbian teachers to be fired. The measure was defeated, and many believe it was because of this episode being shown.
Mike and Gloria don't appear in this episode, but Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers are credited.
Edith makes mention that Liz was a cousin on her mother's side, and since her other prominent Cousin Maude isn't attending the wake, then she must be a cousin on Edith's father's side (or Maude had vowed never to look Archie in the face after ruining her daughter's wedding).
Don Starr, the actor that played Jordan Lee in "Dallas", was an uncredited mourner in this episode.
The writing team of Harve Brosten, Barry Hartman, Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for this episode.